Arizona silver belt., 1887-10-08
Al Second Hand C0elssetlcTa Tells Of Ills
Patrons, PecnIinrltlea.

Patrons Rccaharttsea
There prevails an islpre sion that any
enc who really knows o yaluable book
when he sees Il con 70 about The second
hand book stores and pick up hargaisis IA
plenty. This il altogether d niistaaen
notion. The trouble Is that 50 many do
know q good book when they zee II and
10 are Oh the lookout for raro copies.
Booissellera, TOO at least majority "a
them nov know the relative values 81
books, and he Is q lucky collector wh9
nowadays gets a volume much under ~
actual worth. OF course different per-
sons set different valiep on certain works.
But as a rule tlle dealer price ID not often
thought 70 be low
A down town bookseller who deals IN
an kiuds uf books old and new, said To
the writer who asked him fcF certain
edition Of an nld classic tile other day:
III thar book were here il would have
been sold long before tlsis We have had
half a dCzen men Ia here already today,
looking for rare Old books. Hou haNe no
idea how nlany come 81 every day on that
errand. They come IN and spend an
hour, sometimes two, looking over our
shelves. They rarely tell us what they
arc after. There arc some old gentle-
men who visit rs regularly about three
times week They know our stock as
well lis we do0ursetves. Not ono of them
buys more Khan q half dozen volumes q
year, hut they seem u he quite satisfied
with what they get foE their labor. 81
course we have great many transient
callers on the Same Grand Il often
makes me laugh 10 see them looking yFise
and eagerly going over Che shelges, eya-
IDENTITY under the Impression that they arc
in unc1plored deids, Just AS likely as
NOT scrne che, who knows d good thing
when he sees II, has been ali over Tho
books half ar hour before. Some of them
take every Volume ia their hands and
turn over a few pages a good many
come IN just 70 have look az the books.
There are unscTuptilous dealers, and when
they SEQ that q man wants a particular
book they raise the price on him.
But your regular book collector isn {
green. Many time | have seen him Try
igg to get a valuable edition d some book
by pretending that Ii was common, der
pending On the dealer 3 ignprance not u
know its worth, ( remember once had
a volume III the Taffler \ Tint was very
old ana worn, ana thought il was worth
all Of SIS. Ihadn't i long when orle Of
my old visitors came ID. He knew nearly
all my stock and he must have seen this
/ tTattler at once but he passed it by
without so much as touching il. Then he
came back and, contrary 10 his cl,stoIn,
remarked that he didn't SOC anything he
wanted Hewas just gong omit Of The
door when he lRI5denly turned sound and
said the. hi had forgotten to get \ bceS
that his wife wanted While was wrap
ping Il up he picked Up The golurRe rs the
"TaGtler Ia a careless way, saying.
.sAh, here Is another Of these copies Of the
Tattler It's good deal like the one
] have at homo, but mine IS worn cut.
This one is only q little better, but yon
4 win be sure to let me have it cheap and
might as well take Il along
'tJust as you like Ireplied, carelessly
'fYou can have il for So. !" Of course, be
was thunderstruck surelys ! was making
I a mistake, and all that sort Of thing, Bot
] wouldn't budge, and no gave mo my
( price with i very bad grace. The fact Is,
I tlsose old collectors don I half care for Q
hook unless they get II az q price they
\ think away below cost, Then they gc
away chuckiing at what they call theJ
| superior iisceynment. /"
Where do you get these old books n
4 was asked
e From the libraries Of these very men
! who collect taem When they lie thciI
4 libraries are often sold with the rest n
their effects, and usually at ridiculoualS
low figures. The men who buy old fur.
4 niture often get them Tor nothing slowed
away ia drawers. Anyhow, they sell foI
very little when disposed 81 By On auc,
tioneer who knows nothing about them
4 You see, most Of our customefs are com,
/ paratively poor men, who often gef
/ book that they prize at the sacrifice 81 {
I meal Cor. Kew York Commercial al
/ yertiser,